John M. Perry acquired the Montebello property in 1814. He was one of Thomas Jefferson’s protégés, having worked on the enlargement of Monticello, on Jefferson’s barn, and on Poplar Forest. In 1817, he sold to the Commonwealth the land on which the University of Virginia would soon be built. He was the principal carpenter of the first university building, Pavilion VII. He also worked on many of the other buildings in the Academical Village. Perry is certainly one of the most important of Jefferson’s circle of builders. Montebello, his own house and in sight of the university, exhibits Jeffersonian building practices, proportions, and materials in their most basic forms. Montebello’s simple front porch may be the forerunner of many others like it.